[center][h3][color=orange]Hibiki Toho[/color][/h3] 
[img]http://i.imgur.com/WUJO7Px.png[/img][/center]

Today was a very important day. First, it was Hibiki's first time doing a job for the Newspaper club. She was very nervous; while Thomas did say they could enjoy themselves, she still very jittery. She had everything she felt a good newspaper person needed: a notebook for notes, a pen for writing notes, a voice recorder to record statements, and a camera to immortalize it all in picture. She even got a [url=http://i.imgur.com/n7cTzSw.jpg]new outfit[/url] to dress the part. But more important then any of that, Hibiki needed to find Itusko. She had promised her that they would spend some time at the festival together. Hibiki wanted to try all the things, especially the cultural stuff since that was what Thomas said she was suppose to review.

Hibiki had everything planned out. First, they would try the non-japanese cultural things. She knew there was one booth that was doing something German, and another was pretty American. There were a lot of Chinese places too, as well as Korean. However what Hibiki was most interested in was a few Arabic stands that she was almost certain no one would really be going too. No one ever seemed to pay them much mind, which seemed odd to Hibiki because they seemed the most interesting. And of course, once she visits all those places, she'll have to find Thomas to investigate the Black vs White cultural war. The White Guild were coming strong with their traditional Maid Cafe, something everyone looks forward to every year. But the Black Guild would be using the festival to as their debut, and there was no telling what they were up too.

Hibiki did a bit of digging around about the both of them as well. Namely, some key players in both guilds. While obviously there were Chiyo Kuroke and Yoshino Tsugumi, the leader of the Ivory Masks and the spokesperson of the Ebony Strykers respectively, Hibiki had noticed a few other big names show up. One was Eris Reinhardt, a very controversial figure in both Deep Ground and the real world. It first started when Hibiki found some gossip where she had declared war against the Sweepers after they wrote the name "Cassandra" out of dead players bodies, where she threaten to use her connections to a mercenary company to take out anyone who would harm Cassandra. More importantly, she also revealed herself as Eclipse princess, a rather powerful player who had initially joined the Ebony Strykers, only to start killing them after Corpse Collector was defeated due to the Sweepers in the Strykers. Now she's part of the Ivory Masks, and some say it was a ploy by the Ivory Masks to weaken and destabilize the Ebony Strykers since soon after she had stopped her killings, the Ebony Strykers went through their civil war. And even though her activities have been fairly quiet since she had left, it was also known that she had a hand in helping and improving the Ivory Masks maid cafe, which itself was already well above what most other festival stalls could fund.

Following up on Eris, Hibiki also tried to look into this Cassandra person. Oddly enough, despite being a target by the Sweepers and apparently someone Eris regards very closely, Hibiki wasn't able to find out much about her. Cassandra O'Shera was a child of a very large family, and has recently been seen in Eris's company, and by proxy the Ivory Masks. Of what few rumors Hibiki could find, people say that Cassandra is a strong-willed person and could be quite forceful, though seeing the girl herself Hibiki wonders if there's more to it then that. Of course Hibiki wasn't just investigating the Ivory Masks and she had some information about the Ebony Strykers as well. Namely, around the same time the Ebony Strykers opened it's doors, a girl named Retsu was seen around Yoshino. Like Cassandra, there was very little information that Hibiki found about her, aside that she has a brother named Asahi. However something about Retsu didn't sit right with Hibiki. Like Retsu was hiding something. Just seeing her made Hibiki feel like she's in danger, and she suspects that Retsu may be connected to the Sweepers and serves as the contact between them and the Ebony Strykers, collaborating with Yoshino.

In addition to Retsu, there was also Asahi, who recently gained some fame for getting shot. The biggest rumor going on around that was Asahi being a target for a botched assassination from the Sweepers, brought about from his involvement in the civil war in the Ebony Strykers. He also has a reputation for getting into fights with other trouble makers in the city and that he was a leader of his own gang, which sounds a lot like something a Sweeper would do. Of course it only made more questions why the Sweepers would be after him if he is a Sweeper, though perhaps the civil war between the Ebony Strykers were more then just a battle between the Stykers and the Sweepers, but the Sweepers amongst themselves. Aside from that, he was apparently leading the Ebony Stryker's performance. Instead of a stall or booth like other clubs or guilds, they would be hosting a show soon.

In all honesty, Hibiki didn't want to go to either guilds. The Ivory Masks felt too distant and haughty, that despite being a maid cafe it was made for a higher clientele then most of the students who go to Purple Crown. At best, it makes people feel rich. The Ebony Strykers were a wild card, and aside from her personal reasons for not wanting to go to the Ebony Stryker's show, she doubts they could really do anything considering how disorganized and underfunded they were. Unlike Eris or Chiyo, who Hibiki learned were actually very wealthy, no one from Ebony Strykers seemed particularly rich. And Hibiki wasn't so naive to believe that they could produce anything without sufficient funding. The Ivory Mask's maid cafe has always been a big attraction because a lot of money has gone into making it far better then what any normal highschooler could do with a limited budget. Even the other guilds had comparatively paltry attractions compared to the Ivory Masks, and Hibiki doubts newcomers like the Ebony Strykers would do any better.

All in all, Hibiki wished that she could just use this time to have fun with Itsuko and maybe make some more new friends. Not that she was getting bored with Itsuko, but after spending some nights playing DGO with her, Hibiki realized that she doesn't have a lot of friends to play with. By the time she came to Purple Crown even the new students already had their cliques or were part of a guild. Hibiki knew in some ways it was her own fault too, since she could easily have more friends if she just joined a guild. But her own vendetta against the Ebony Strykers made her into something like a brooding anti-hero who can't accept friends at the risk of endangering them. And that was really boring.

Sighing, Hibiki tried not to look too depressed as she waited for Itsuko. Just like she told her yesterday, Hibiki would be waiting near entrance after the ticket counter. She showed Itsuko the outfit she was going to wear, so she should be able to recognize Hibiki when she shows up. Hibiki also wondered if Huntress would be here today. She seemed like a mysterious, but good person. Huntress would be the type of character who looks and acts cool, but probably plays with dolls or still sleeps with her baby blanket. Not that Hibiki could talk, since she does that too.

[@KoL]